Honestly, Wordle is one of those things that feels like a gentle brain massage until it suddenly feels like a brick wall. That was the vibe for a lot of people jumping into the New York Times grid today. If you've been staring at those yellow and gray squares for twenty minutes wondering where your life went wrong, you aren't alone. Today's puzzle—Wordle 997—is a bit of a trickster.
The Wordle March 12 2024 answer is HEAVE.
It’s a word we all know, but it’s remarkably difficult to pin down in five letters when you're working with limited guesses. Why? Because the structure is a nightmare for the process of elimination.
Why today's Wordle is a trap
Let’s talk about the vowel placement. Having three vowels in a five-letter word is usually a blessing. You get that dopamine hit when the E, A, and E turn green. But then you realize you’re stuck in the "vowel-heavy" trap. Words like LEAVE, WEAVE, and PEAVE (yes, that’s a thing) are all lurking in the shadows, waiting to eat up your remaining guesses.
Most people start with something like ADIEU or STARE. If you used STARE today, you got lucky with that ending E and the middle A. But even then, the consonant hunt is where the real stress starts.
🔗 Read more: The Fiddlehead Fern Stardew Valley Secret: Where to Find Them and Why They Matter
HEAVE is a verb that basically means to lift or haul something with great effort. It’s also what happens to your chest when you’re gasping for air after a run. It’s a heavy word, both in meaning and in how it sits in the Wordle dictionary.
The strategy for Wordle 997
If you haven't solved it yet and you're just looking for a nudge, keep in mind that the H at the beginning is the real gatekeeper. We often prioritize consonants like S, R, T, or L. The H is a bit of a secondary tier letter in many starting strategies, which is why WordleBot usually has a field day pointing out how inefficient our human brains are.
Kinda frustrating, right?
👉 See also: Why Crash Bandicoot 4 It’s About Time is Way Harder Than You Remember
The double E is the other culprit. While it’s not a "hidden" double letter like you see in words like "MUMMY" or "SASSY," having the E at both the second and fifth positions can be disorienting if your second guess was something like "LEAVE." You see the green, you think you’re home free, and then—clunk—you’re out of tries.
Breaking down the Wordle stats
Looking at the community data from early solvers, a lot of folks are landing this in 4 or 5 tries. That’s a "tough" rating on the unofficial Wordle difficulty scale.
- Average Guesses: 4.2
- Most Common Trap: The "EAVE" ending.
- Success Rate: High, but with many close calls on the 6th guess.
Interestingly, people who use "SLATE" as their opener had a much easier time narrowing down the field than those who stick to the "AUDIO" or "OUIJA" vowel-stuffing method. Vowels give you the skeleton, but the H and the V are the muscle of this word.
👉 See also: How to Downgrade Minecraft Java: Why the Best Version Isn't Always the Newest
Expert tips for tomorrow
Since you've likely finished (or given up on) Wordle March 12 2024, it’s worth thinking about how to handle the next one. Don't get married to your starting word. If the game gives you a weird consonant like V early on, stop guessing common words and start looking for the "shape" of the word.
- Stop chasing vowels. If you have the A and the E, stop looking for the I and O. Focus on where that H or V might hide.
- Use a burner word. If you’re on guess 4 and have 3 possible answers (like LEAVE, WEAVE, HEAVE), use a word that combines those starting letters. A word like "WHELK" would test the W, H, and L all at once. It costs you a turn, but it saves your streak.
- Watch the H. The letter H loves to follow C, S, T, or P, but it’s surprisingly common as a standalone leader in words like HEAVE, HASTE, or HAUNT.
Wordle is basically a game of managing risk. Today, the risk was falling into a rhyming trap. Tomorrow might be a double-consonant nightmare or an obscure botanical term. That's the beauty of it.
To keep your momentum going, try switching your starting word to something with a "V" or "H" tomorrow if you feel like being adventurous. Or just stick to "CRANE"—it’s a classic for a reason. Check your stats, share your grid (carefully, no spoilers!), and get ready for the next reset.
For the most effective way to improve your score, analyze your "lost" games specifically to see if you were caught in a "Hard Mode" trap where you were forced to guess similar-sounding words until you ran out of space. Recognition of those patterns is the only way to beat the NYT editors at their own game.